Published: Monday, March 3, 2014 at 08:37 PM.

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FAYETTEVILLE -- Weather was the primary thing on the minds of all the coaches and North Carolina High School Athletic Association officials at Monday’s Eastern Regional press conference at Fayetteville’s Crown Coliseum.

The wintry mix of snow, ice and sleet led to Randolph County -- the home of Kinston’s Regional semifinal opponent Trinity -- releasing its students three hours early on Monday. As of presstime, a decision hadn’t been made on whether the Bulldogs would be able to make the five-hour roundtrip from Trinity (which is south of Winston-Salem and Greensboro) to Fayetteville.

If school is not in session in Randolph County today, it’s likely the Kinston-Trinity game will be postponed until later this week.

NCHSAA officials hinted Monday the game would likely be moved to Wednesday or Thursday at 5:30 p.m.

“Our superintendent did tell us that when we got back from (the press conference), our principal will call him and they might let us make the trip,” Trinity head coach Tim Kelly said. “Unless it’s so dangerous we can’t make it, I think we’ll be able to come.”

FAYETTEVILLE -- Weather was the primary thing on the minds of all the coaches and North Carolina High School Athletic Association officials at Monday’s Eastern Regional press conference at Fayetteville’s Crown Coliseum.

The wintry mix of snow, ice and sleet led to Randolph County -- the home of Kinston’s Regional semifinal opponent Trinity -- releasing its students three hours early on Monday. As of presstime, a decision hadn’t been made on whether the Bulldogs would be able to make the five-hour roundtrip from Trinity (which is south of Winston-Salem and Greensboro) to Fayetteville.

If school is not in session in Randolph County today, it’s likely the Kinston-Trinity game will be postponed until later this week.

NCHSAA officials hinted Monday the game would likely be moved to Wednesday or Thursday at 5:30 p.m.

“Our superintendent did tell us that when we got back from (the press conference), our principal will call him and they might let us make the trip,” Trinity head coach Tim Kelly said. “Unless it’s so dangerous we can’t make it, I think we’ll be able to come.”

One of the biggest surprises of NCHSAA Selection Saturday was that Trinity -- a longtime Western North Carolina powerhouse -- was slotted in the East. In fact, Kinston and Trinity played for the 3A state title in 2008 with Kinston as the East champion and Trinity as the West’s.

“We thought we’d be West all year,” said Kelly, whose team enters tonight’s game with a 26-1 mark. “It’d been better for us and not because of who we’re playing, but because it’d be closer.”

According to mapquest.com, Trinity is 107 miles from Fayetteville’s Crown Center -- but only miles from the Greensboro Coliseum.

“Travel would’ve been better, but either way, you go where they tell you,” Kelly said. “We’re happy to be here.”

Winning never gets old

The Kinston boys -- the two-time defending 2A state champions -- are in their eighth straight Eastern Regional. Kinston’s girls, coached by Hubert Quinerly, are in their fourth consecutive Regional.

Both Vikings coaches said they are happy to be back in the Regionals.

“There’s never a guarantee you’re going to get back, so this is special,” Tyndall said.

Quinerly said, “This is big, because we’ve had a lot of support from our community. Our girls did a great job of getting us here.”

In an impressive statistical quirk, this marks the 12th time Quinerly has coached in an Eastern Regional -- as an assistant on the boys’ teams, head coach of the girls’ teams and as an assistant on the football team.

“I never get tired of coming to (the Regional),” Quinerly said. “There are a lot of people who never get a chance to come to even one of these. It’s a great opportunity ... and an awesome atmosphere.”

One win from perfection

Trinity enters tonight’s contest with a 26-1 mark. The Bulldogs’ lone loss of the 2013-14 season came on Feb. 7 in a 43-38 decision at fellow Piedmont Athletic Conference 2A foe Randleman.

“Randleman is a good basketball team,” Kelly said. “Going into the season, we thought they were the favorite to win our league. The night we played them, we had a good defensive night but a subpar shooting night. (Randleman) shot the ball down the stretch extremely well. They hit some big 3s where we were all over them.”

Some popular sentiment is that it’s good for a team to lose a game to take pressure off it before the state playoffs. Kelly pooh-poohed that notion.

“I’d like to win them all,” he said with a laugh. “We did get on a roll after that and started playing better. We had gotten a little complacent and that rejuvenated us.”

Not the usual suspects

In Kinston’s girls five postseason games (two Eastern Carolina 2A tournament, three 2A sectional games), there have been three different leading scorers; senior guard Brittany Drumgoole, who has verbally committed to South Carolina State, has led the team twice, as has junior center Lydia Rivers. Junior guard Takerian Harper has led the team once.

In the five games, though, Drumgoole has scored 66 points (13.2 points per game), Rivers has 65 (13 ppg) and sophomore sharpshooter Shika Mason has 64 (12.8 ppg). Mason is the only Viking girl to score in double figures in all five postseason games.

On the boys’ side, junior guard Brandon Ingram has led the team in scoring twice, as has junior forward Mykel Hart. Junior post player Darnell Dunn has led the Vikings once.

High Point Andrews head girls’ coach John Shearin said his team’s strategy is simple.

“Our main philosophy is to play your best and do the best you can,” said Shearin. “I encourage our players to give 110 percent and to let the chips fall where they may. That’s what we hang our hats on.”

Bryan C. Hanks can be reached at 252-559-1074 or at Bryan.Hanks@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter at @BCHanks.